This weekend marked our first trip back to the local arthouse theater this year. It seems like we go there so seldom, and nearly every time we go we wonder why we don't go more often. This was another one of those times. Dear Frankie was an excellent movie. It's a smaller, more humble movie than most of what we've been seeing this year, but it was very heartfelt. As you might guess from the title, much of the story revolves around letters. Frankie is a young deaf boy who has just moved to Glasgow, Scotland with his mother and grandmother. He has been writing letters to his father for his whole life, but doesn't realize that the letters never actually reach his father; his mother takes them and writes letters back, posing as the boy's father, who he thinks is a petty officer on a merchant ship. I tend to be drawn to stories about childhood and family, and this one certainly fits that bill. It also struck me as somewhat refreshing that Frankie is presented as neither a victim nor a hero because of his disability. Because it's not on the mainstream circuit, I doubt many people will see Dear Frankie, which is too bad because it's really quite a good movie.

Viewed: 4/2/2005 | Released: 1/20/2005 | Score: A

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